Shiva Purana — Vayaviya Samhita, Shloka 13
भक्ताधिकारि-द्विजधर्म-योगिलक्षणवर्णनम् / Duties of Qualified Devotees and Marks of Yogins
रक्षणं सर्ववर्णानां युद्धे शत्रुवधस्तथा । दुष्टपक्षिमृगाणां च दुष्टानां शातनं नृणाम्
rakṣaṇaṃ sarvavarṇānāṃ yuddhe śatruvadhastathā | duṣṭapakṣimṛgāṇāṃ ca duṣṭānāṃ śātanaṃ nṛṇām
اس کا فرض ہے کہ تمام ورنوں کی حفاظت کرے اور جنگ میں دشمنوں کا وध کرے۔ اسی طرح بدکار پرندوں اور درندوں کو ہلاک کرے، اور بدکار انسانوں کو سزا دے کر تابع کرے۔
Suta Goswami
Tattva Level: pashu
Shiva Form: Vīrabhadra
Significance: Frames kṣatriya-protective duty as dharmic preservation (sthiti) that safeguards conditions for worship, temples, and pilgrimage routes.
FAQs
It defines righteous governance as dharma-in-action: protecting all people and restraining adharma, so society can pursue devotion, duty, and liberation under a stable moral order aligned with Shiva as Pati (the supreme Lord).
Saguna Shiva is honored not only through ritual but through dharmic conduct; a ruler who protects and corrects wrongdoing upholds Shiva’s cosmic order, making governance itself a form of service to the Lord symbolized by the Linga.
The verse primarily teaches ethical discipline (dharma) rather than a specific rite; as a Shaiva takeaway, one may reinforce this duty with daily Panchakshara japa ("Om Namaḥ Śivāya") and a vow to protect and act justly.